1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a wall hanger. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wall hanger for hanging a display device on a wall.
2. Background Information
A conventional flat panel display is hung on a wall with a wall hanger. The wall hanger has inner and outer wall hanger fittings and a latching piece. The inner and outer wall hanger fittings sandwich a rear cover of the flat panel display. The latching piece is affixed to the wall. A display screen for showing video is formed on a front side of the flat panel display.
The inner wall hanger fitting is a piece of sheet metal formed in an approximate H shape when viewed from the front. A pair of left and right L-shaped hooks is formed on the rear cover. The left and right hooks are engaged in a pair of left and right engagement holes formed in a vertical center of the inner wall hanger fitting. The inner wall hanger fitting is affixed to an inner face of the rear cover at two places at upper ends with fasteners.
Bottomed cylindrical components are formed by drawing at four corners of the inner wall hanger fitting. A screw hole is formed in an inner face of each of the bottomed cylindrical components.
The outer wall hanger fitting is formed in substantially the same shape as the inner wall hanger fitting. A substantially L-shaped latching tab extends integrally from a rear face of the outer wall hanger fitting. The outer wall hanger fitting is placed against an outer face of the rear cover. Standard screws are passed through holes formed in the outer wall hanger fitting and the rear cover, and then threaded with a torque wrench or other such tightening tool into the screw holes. As a result, the inner and outer wall hanger fittings are integrally linked with the rear cover sandwiched in between.
The wall hanging procedure will now be described. The flat panel display is grasped and the latching tab is inserted into a pocket of the latching piece to latch the flat panel display to the wall.
With the conventional wall hanger, even if a long screw that is longer than the standard screw is inadvertently threaded in, a distal end of the long screw will hit a bottom face of the bottomed cylindrical component and cannot be threaded any farther. Thus, the user will immediately realize the error. This prevents electronic parts and so forth from being damaged, short-circuited, etc., which could otherwise be caused by contact with the electronic parts if the long screw went deeply inside the rear cover.
Nevertheless, an expensive drawn piece has to be used to form each of the bottomed cylindrical components, and drawing with a mold entails numerous steps and takes considerable time. Furthermore, precise machining is necessary to form the screw holes in the inner faces of the bottomed cylindrical components, which drives up production costs.
Another conventional wall hanger includes a housing and a main body (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication H11-294436, for example). The main body is fixed to the housing. Screw holes are formed in the housing. Screw holes having a different pitch from that of the screw holes of the housing are formed in the main body. If long screws are inadvertently threaded into the screw holes of the housing, then distal ends of the long screws will be threaded into the screw holes of the main body. However, since the screw holes of the main body have different pitches from that of the screw holes of the housing, the long screws are prevented from being threaded in.
With the conventional wall hanger, the main body formed separately from the housing is used in addition to the housing. Thus, more parts are required, and fixing the housing to the main body also takes time and effort. Furthermore, the screw holes having a different pitch from that of the screw holes of the housing have to be formed in the main body. Since making the holes also takes time and effort, the structure is complicated and expensive to produce.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved connecting structure. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.